Jawbone upsets bereaved people by sending them strange Father's Day message out of the blue

'Re: Your Dad,' was all the message said

Hosain Rahman, CEO and co-founder of Jawbone, speaks during the Samsung keynote with Jawbone products displayed in the background at the International Consumer Electronics show (REUTERS/Rick Wilking)

Three words in the subject line of an email have got one tech company in huge trouble.

Jawbone, which makes wearable tech like activity trackers, sent an email to potential customers with the subject line “Re: Your Dad”. It was intended as a way of telling people to buy smartwatches for Father’s Day.

But it upset many of the thousands of people who received it and had either lost their fathers or were worried about them. Many of them posted on Twitter and elsewhere about their anger, arguing that the site could have sent out more sensitive emails.

“Lost my Dad on 12th April to cancer-have really struggled with this year's [Father’s Day] mrktng,” wrote one Twitter user. “Got the Jawbone one too and saw red.”

Experts pointed out that people’s email inboxes are especially intimate places, and that email marketers should be careful when they step into them. “"In this case, Jawbone should have considered how people whose fathers have died or are estranged from them might view such a subject line,” Maisie McCabe, acting UK editor of Campaign, told the BBC.

Others pointed out that since Jawbone does actually collect medical information about people’s dads, a message about them could be worrying even if they were still alive.

Many called out those who were offended . Author Tom Peters said anyone offended is “a certified loony tunes” and another said that those complaining “need to really chill out and not take things so personally”.